JP2009184807A - Shelf position automatic teaching device used for automated storage for drug discovery - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a shelf position automatic teaching device used for an automated storage for drug discovery capable of reducing manual work and highly accurately measuring four pieces of positional information, the X-axis, Y-axis, Z-axis and inclination angle θ in the depth direction of storage shelves in a short time with good reproducibility. <P>SOLUTION: The shelf position automatic teaching device used for the automated storage is provided with the plurality of storage shelves juxtaposed vertically and horizontally to store and manage workpieces for research for drug discovery in environments such as constant temperature, constant humidity and refrigeration; a transfer hand for taking in/out the workpieces to/from the storage shelves; and a measurement plate 300 inserted to a lowest stage and/or a highest stage of the storage shelves. The measurement plate 300 has a horizontal plate 310 adapted to the width of the storage shelf and a vertical plate 320 vertically provided on the front face of the horizontal plate 310. The verticalal plate 320 has a triangular projecting part 330 in the central part. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a plurality of vertical and horizontal storage shelves for storing and managing a drug discovery research work under an environment of constant temperature, humidity, and freezing, and the work to the storage shelves. More specifically, the present invention relates to a shelf position automatic teaching apparatus that measures in advance position information of a plurality of storage shelves.

  In the field of drug discovery research, multiple small containers such as vials and microtubes in which samples such as drugs and compounds are enclosed are arranged side by side in a matrix on a storage tray. Is used for drug discovery and storage in a constant temperature, humidity and freezing environment.

  This automatic storage for drug discovery transmits instructions from an external terminal device such as a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) to the transfer hand, takes out the necessary work, and stores the work in the designated position. . Therefore, it is necessary to perform a so-called teaching operation in which position information of each storage shelf is stored in advance in the terminal.

Teaching in the general material handling field other than the field of drug discovery research has a wide vertical and horizontal spacing between the storage shelves and does not require very high positioning accuracy. Only the upper corner corner shelf and the lowermost corner corner shelf on the opposite corner are measured for three-dimensional position information consisting of the X, Y, and Z coordinates, and the other storage shelves are simple. It was possible to cope with it sufficiently by calculating the position information by calculation (determined from the number and dimensions of known storage shelves) (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP2007-161453

  However, in the drug storage shelf 800 used in the drug discovery research field, as schematically shown in FIG. 10, the gap between the storage shelf 822 and the workpiece is designed to be as small as possible in order to increase the storage efficiency in the storage. Since it is necessary, the positioning accuracy of the workpiece with respect to the storage shelf 822 is required to be 1 mm or less. Further, since there is a manufacturing tolerance in the dimensions of the storage shelves 822, each of the storage shelves 822 has subtle differences in size and distortion. Therefore, in addition to the three-dimensional information of the X coordinate, the Y coordinate, and the Z coordinate, it is necessary to obtain the inclination angle θ of the storage shelf 822 in the depth direction. And since it is desirable to insert the workpiece into each storage shelf 822 at the center of the storage shelf 822, it is necessary to teach the position data of each storage shelf 822 to the transfer hand in advance. Teaching by the method was performed.

  That is, first, (1) as shown in FIG. 12, the lowermost level and / or uppermost level of the vertical storage frame 820 in which a plurality of storage shelves 822 are vertically arranged has substantially the same width as the width of the storage shelves 822. A measurement plate 600 having a rectangular alignment window 630 opened at the center is installed. Next, (2) the transfer hand 700 is manually controlled to insert the hand plate 740 under the measurement plate 600, and the central horizontal line 610 and the central vertical line engraved at the vertical and horizontal centers of the measurement plate 600. The central horizontal line 710 and the central vertical line 720 engraved on the hand plate 740 of the transfer hand 700 that can be seen from the alignment window 630 are aligned with each other. (3) The position information at that time is registered in the terminal, and the position information of other shelves is calculated by a simple calculation from the known number of shelves of the vertical storage frame 820 and the distance between the shelves. Here, by inserting the measurement plate 600 into both the lowermost stage and the uppermost stage, it is possible to obtain position information with higher accuracy than when the measurement plate 600 is inserted into only one side. (4) When the measurement of one vertical storage frame 820 is completed, the above (1) to (3) are repeatedly obtained for the positional information of the storage shelf 832 of the adjacent vertical storage frame 830 as shown in FIG. . In FIG. 10, a rotating shelf type is shown as the drug storage shelf 800, but even if the vertical storage frame is a fixed shelf type arranged in a straight line, The position information of the storage shelf can be obtained.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 10, for the plurality of storage shelves 822 constituting the vertical storage frame 820, only the position information of the storage shelves 822 at one place or two places (the lowermost stage and / or the uppermost stage) is measured. For other storage shelves 822, the calculation is based on the known number of shelves and the distance between shelves, whereas for other vertical storage frames, the position information is again obtained by the same method. Measurement is necessary because the storage shelves that make up one vertical storage frame are manufactured from sheet steel by sheet metal processing at a time, so there is relatively little tolerance, whereas for another vertical storage frame, This is because an assembly tolerance to the drug storage shelf 800 is generated in addition to a manufacturing tolerance due to being separately manufactured by sheet metal processing.

  Therefore, in the conventional teaching method, measurement of four pieces of positional information of the X coordinate, the Y coordinate, the Z coordinate, and the inclination angle θ in the depth direction is manually performed based on the method described above for at least the number of vertical storage frames. Therefore, enormous time is required for teaching all the storage shelves attached to the drug storage shelf 800. Furthermore, due to the change of workers, measurement errors derived from experience and intuition are likely to occur, resulting in poor measurement accuracy.

  Therefore, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention, that is, the object of the present invention is to reduce the number of manual operations and to store four pieces of positional information of the storage shelf X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, and the inclination angle θ in the depth direction. It is to provide an automatic teaching device for shelf position used in an automatic drug storage for drug discovery capable of performing measurement in a short time, with high accuracy and good reproducibility.

First, the invention according to claim 1 includes a plurality of storage shelves arranged in the vertical and horizontal directions for storing and managing a drug discovery research work in an environment of constant temperature, constant humidity, and freezing, and the storage shelves. In a shelf position automatic teaching device used in an automatic drug storage for drug discovery having a transfer hand for taking in and out of the workpiece and a measurement plate inserted in the bottom and / or top of the storage shelf, The measurement plate has a horizontal plate adapted to the width of the storage shelf and a vertical plate suspended from the front surface of the horizontal plate, and the vertical plate has a triangular convex portion at the center thereof. , Having a position sensor of a plurality of measurement points on a straight line straddling the convex part and a line sensor for measuring a distance to the measurement point, and a distance between two boundary points between the edge of the convex part and the straight line To the height from the bottom of the triangular convex portion to the boundary point ( Coordinate), and the inclination angle (θ) in the depth direction of the storage shelf is determined from the respective distances from the line sensor to two points on the vertical plate that straddle the convex portion on the straight line, and the convex portion The horizontal position (X coordinate) is obtained from the position of one boundary point on the straight line and the edge, and the length in the depth direction of the storage shelf (from the distance from the line sensor to the one boundary point ( By solving for (Y coordinate), the above problem is solved.
Here, the “work” in the present invention is a general term for a storage tray for storing a plurality of small containers such as vials and microtubes in which samples such as drugs and compounds are enclosed in a matrix. In addition, the “line sensor” in the present invention recognizes the position of the object from the change in the time t by measuring the time t until the light irradiated in a straight line is diffusely reflected by the object and returned. A sensor that has the function of recognizing the distance from the time t to the object and the light that has been reflected and reflected back from the object is imaged on the two-dimensional sensor to detect changes in position and shape. By doing so, it means a sensor in a broad sense that collectively refers to sensors that measure displacement and shape.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the shelf position automatic teaching apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the triangular convex portion has a base whose height coincides with the bottom surface of the vertical plate, and the vertical plate. This problem is further solved by a right triangle having a perpendicular line that is equal to the height of and perpendicular to the bottom surface.

  Further, the invention according to claim 3 further solves the above-mentioned problem in the shelf position automatic teaching apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the line sensor is a laser displacement sensor. . The “laser type displacement sensor” in the present invention can accurately reproduce the surface shape of an object in two dimensions of the X axis and the Z axis using a laser beam, and includes height, width, step, etc. This is a generic term for things that can be measured.

  According to the invention of claim 1, a plurality of storage shelves arranged in the vertical and horizontal directions for storing and managing a drug discovery research work in an environment of constant temperature, constant humidity, and freezing, and the storage shelves In a shelf position automatic teaching device used in an automatic drug storage for drug discovery having a transfer hand for taking in and out of the workpiece and a measurement plate inserted in the bottom and / or top of the storage shelf, The measurement plate has a horizontal plate adapted to the width of the storage shelf and a vertical plate suspended from the front surface of the horizontal plate, and the vertical plate has a triangular convex portion at the center thereof. , Having a position sensor of a plurality of measurement points on a straight line straddling the convex part and a line sensor for measuring a distance to the measurement point, and a distance between two boundary points between the edge of the convex part and the straight line To the height from the bottom of the triangular convex portion to the boundary point ( Coordinate), and the inclination angle (θ) in the depth direction of the storage shelf is determined from the respective distances from the line sensor to two points on the vertical plate that straddle the convex portion on the straight line, and the convex portion The horizontal position (X coordinate) is obtained from the position of one boundary point on the straight line and the edge, and the length in the depth direction of the storage shelf (from the distance from the line sensor to the one boundary point ( By obtaining the (Y coordinate), the measurement of the four position information of the storage shelf X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, and the inclination angle θ in the depth direction can be performed without any manual intervention other than the setting work of the measurement plate. The time when the laser beam emitted from the sensor is reflected on the straight line of the vertical plate and returns is different at the boundary of the triangular convex part, and the horizontal position of the boundary point, the length of the depth method, boundary Position information (X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, θ) consisting of the height and tilt angle in the depth direction can be acquired in a non-contact manner, reducing teaching time and increasing teaching accuracy Can be realized.

  And, according to the invention according to claim 2, in the invention according to claim 1, the triangular protrusion is flush with the bottom surface of the vertical plate (i.e., there is no step), and From the distance between two boundary points in the horizontal direction on the convex part of the right triangle shape by being a right triangle shape having a perpendicular line that is equal to the height of the vertical plate and perpendicular to the bottom surface, the base of the triangular convex part Since the height (Z coordinate) from can be easily obtained by the rule of similarity of triangles described later, the teaching time can be further shortened.

  According to claim 3, in the invention according to claim 1 or 2, the line sensor is a laser-type displacement sensor, so that the difference between the distance between the triangular convex portion and the vertical plate surface is as follows: Since the position of the measurement point and the distance to the measurement point can be measured simultaneously, the teaching time can be further reduced.

  The present invention provides a plurality of vertical and horizontal storage shelves for storing and managing a drug discovery research work in an environment of constant temperature, constant humidity, and freezing, and loading and unloading of the work with respect to the storage shelf. In a shelf position automatic teaching apparatus used in an automatic drug storage for medicines having a transfer hand for performing and a measurement plate inserted in the lowermost stage and / or the uppermost stage of the storage shelf, the measurement plate comprises: It has a horizontal plate that fits the width of the storage shelf and a vertical plate that is suspended from the front surface of the horizontal plate, and the vertical plate has a triangular convex portion at the center, and is straight across the convex portion. A triangular sensor having a position coordinate of a plurality of measurement points on a line and a line sensor for measuring a distance to the measurement point, and the distance between the edge of the convex part and the two boundary points of the straight line The height (Z coordinate) from the bottom of the The inclination angle (θ) in the depth direction of the storage shelf is determined from the distance from each sensor to two points on the vertical plate that straddle the convex portion on the straight line, and the edge of the convex portion and the straight line The horizontal position (X coordinate) is obtained from the position of one boundary point, and the depth direction length (Y coordinate) of the storage shelf is obtained from the distance from the line sensor to the one boundary point. The laser emitted from the line sensor to measure the four position information of the storage shelf X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, and the inclination angle θ in the depth direction, without manual intervention, except for the setting work of the measurement plate Since the time that the reflected light returns is different between the triangular convex part and the vertical plate plane, the position of the boundary point, the length in the depth direction, the height to the boundary point, the inclination angle in the depth direction from the time difference Specific consisting of A specific embodiment of the storage shelf position information (X-coordinate, Y-coordinate, Z-coordinate, θ) can be obtained in a non-contact manner and the teaching time can be shortened and the teaching accuracy can be improved. Can be anything.

  For example, the automatic shelf position teaching apparatus of the present invention can perform teaching operations without any trouble on both a rotating shelf type drug storage shelf and a fixed shelf type drug storage shelf.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
Here, FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a vertical storage frame which is a teaching target of the shelf position automatic teaching apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention and a measuring plate which is a main component of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the measurement plate as viewed from obliquely below, FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the measurement plate as viewed from obliquely above, and FIG. 4 illustrates the structure of the automatic shelf position teaching apparatus of this embodiment. 5 is a top view of FIG. 4 viewed from the direction of arrow V, FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG. 5 viewed from the direction of arrow VI, and FIGS. FIG. 10 is a plan view illustrating the teaching operation of the present embodiment, and FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a drug storage shelf equipped with a plurality of vertical storage frames that are teaching targets of the shelf position automatic teaching apparatus according to the present embodiment; FIG. 11 shows the drug discovery protection shown in FIG. It is a perspective view, with parts cut away of the drug discovery automatic storehouse for storing shelf.

First, an example of an automatic drug storage 900 to which the shelf position automatic teaching apparatus according to the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG.
An automatic storage for drug discovery 900 shown in FIG. 11 has a storage tray 100 in which small cylindrical or square cylindrical containers such as vials and microtubes are accommodated in a row in an environment of constant temperature, humidity and low temperature. A storage area 910 to be stored, a storage / retrieval area 930 for storing / extracting the storage tray 100 through the storage / retrieval window 935, a storage tray 100 taken out from the storage area 910, and a storage tray carried from the storage / exit area 930 A picking robot 200 for exchanging a predetermined small container with 100, and a transfer hand 300 for taking in and out the storage tray 100 with respect to a plurality of storage shelves arranged vertically and horizontally in the storage area 910. It has a transfer area 940 installed.

  In the storage area 910, a drug storage shelf 800 is installed as schematically shown in FIG. In this drug storage shelf 800, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, a vertical storage frame 810 in which a plurality of storage trays 100 in which a plurality of small containers such as microtubes 120 are stored can be stored in the vertical direction. , 820, 830... Are arranged along the endless circulation track O so as to be horizontally movable.

Teaching by the automatic shelf position teaching device used in the automatic drug storage for the drug discovery according to the present invention starts with a measuring plate placed on the lowest storage shelf 822 of one vertical storage frame 820 as a reference as shown in FIG. 300 is inserted. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the measurement plate 300 is adapted to the width of the storage shelf, that is, the horizontal plate 310 having almost the same width as the storage shelf, and the measurement plate 300 is suspended from the front surface of the horizontal plate 310. A vertical plate 320 is provided. The vertical plate 320 has a convex portion 330 in the shape of a right triangle having a vertical line 334 equal to the height of the vertical plate 320 and perpendicular to the base 332 at the center of the vertical plate 320. ing.
As described above, since the measurement plate 300 has almost the same width as the storage shelf, only this insertion work is performed manually by the operator. Further, since the dimensional tolerance of the measurement plate 300 has a great influence on the teaching accuracy, the horizontal plate 310, the vertical plate 320, and the convex portion 330 of the measurement plate 300 are cut from the resin bulk as an integrated object. It is carved out. Here, the material of the resin is not particularly limited, but in this embodiment, a large material (bulk) can be easily obtained, and 6 nylon with excellent wear resistance and self-lubricity. Is used.

  And as shown in FIG. 4, it has the line sensor 400 which measures the position coordinate and the distance to a measurement point of several measurement points on the straight line L which straddles the convex part 330 formed on the vertical board 320. As shown in FIG. As the line sensor 400, a commercially available line sensor combining an LED light emitting element and a CCD light receiving element can be used. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. The emitted laser light is changed in only one axial direction with respect to the incident light by the cylindrical lens 420 having a cylindrical concave / convex shape to form a linear expanded beam on the vertical plate 320 of the measurement plate 300. Laser displacement that allows diffused reflection on a straight line L straddling the formed convex portion 330 and that the reflected light can be imaged on the CMOS sensor 440 through a lens system 430 that combines a plurality of lenses that reduce errors due to aberrations. A sensor is used. Then, by measuring the displacement and shape on the vertical plate 320 by the line sensor 400, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the horizontal position (X coordinate) of the storage shelf in which the measurement plate 300 is inserted is measured. ), Position information (X coordinate, Y coordinate, depth of storage shelf in the depth direction (Y coordinate), vertical height of storage shelf (Z coordinate), and inclination angle (θ) of storage shelf in the depth direction. Z coordinate, θ) is obtained.

  The process of deriving this position information will be described with reference to FIGS. First, as shown in FIG. 7, the laser light emitted by the line sensor is scanned in the direction of the arrow on the straight line L straddling the convex portion 330 on the vertical plate, and the laser light is reflected at each point on the straight line L. , Measure the time t until it comes back. Because of the presence of the convex portion 330, the A portion and the B portion on the straight line L are different in the time t by the thickness d of the convex portion 330 (the time portion A is longer than the portion B). The position of the boundary point a, that is, the X coordinate is obtained. Further, the distance in the depth direction of the measurement plate, that is, the Y coordinate is obtained from the time t until the laser beam is returned from the radiation at an arbitrary measurement point on the A portion or the B portion.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the time tb, tc until the laser light emitted by the line sensor is diffusely reflected at two points b, c on the straight line L straddling the convex portion 330 and returned. By measuring each, the distance from the line sensor to the two points b and c is obtained. The inclination angle θ in the depth direction of the storage shelf is obtained from the difference in distance. The interval between the two points b and c is set in advance on the line sensor side.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the laser light emitted by the line sensor is scanned in the direction of the arrow on the straight line L straddling the convex portion 330 on the vertical plate, and the laser light is diffusely reflected at each point on the straight line L. Then, by measuring the time t during the return, due to the presence of the convex portion 330, the portion C on the straight line L and the portion D are different in the time t by the thickness d of the convex portion 330 (the portion C). The time t is longer than the direction D), and the position of the boundary point f is obtained. Similarly, the D portion and the E portion on the straight line L are different in time t by the thickness of the convex portion 330 (time t is shorter in the D portion than in the E portion), so the position of the boundary point e is Desired. As a result, from the similarity of triangles,
Distance D: Distance F = Distance H: (Distance H + Distance G) (1)
The relationship is established.
By modifying this relational expression (1),
Distance G = (Distance F / Distance D-1) * Distance H (2)
The following relational expression (2) is derived. Since the distance H + distance G, that is, the height and distance F of the triangular convex portion 330, that is, the base of the triangular convex portion 330 is known, the distance between the two boundary points e and f of the straight line L is known. The distance D from the bottom of the triangular convex portion 330 to the boundary points e and f, that is, the Z coordinate is obtained.

  In this way, when the position information (X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, θ) of the lowermost storage shelf 822 of one vertical storage frame 820 serving as a reference as shown in FIG. The position information (X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, θ) of all the storage shelves 822 of the vertical storage frame 820 is calculated from the number of shelves of the vertical storage frame 820 and the distance between the shelves. In this embodiment, for the X coordinate, Y coordinate, and θ, all the storage shelves 822 of the vertical storage frame 820 are common to the measured position information of the lowest storage shelf 822, and the Z coordinate (height). Stores the information of the lowest Z coordinate, and the other storage shelves 822 are calculated in the PLC based on the designed inter-shelf distance.

In this embodiment, the position information of all the storage shelves 822 of the vertical storage frame 820 is calculated based on the position information of the lowermost storage shelf 822 of the vertical storage frame 820. By measuring the position information of the upper storage shelves and calculating the position information of all the storage shelves 822 of the vertical storage frame 820 from the position information of both, the measurement accuracy can be further improved.
When the measurement of the position information of the storage shelf of the vertical storage frame serving as the reference is finished, the position information of the storage shelf of the adjacent vertical storage frame is sequentially measured. According to the present invention, measurement of four pieces of position information can be performed simultaneously and without human intervention, so that the measurement time can be greatly shortened. Furthermore, since position information is measured in a non-contact manner, no error due to contact occurs.

  In the present embodiment, the triangular convex portion 330 formed on the vertical plate 320 forms a perpendicular line that is equal to the bottom surface 322 of the vertical plate 320, the same base 332, and is perpendicular to the bottom surface 322. Even if it is not a right triangle shape, for example, an arbitrary triangle such as an isosceles triangle is used, position information (X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, θ ) Can be measured.

  Further, in the present embodiment, when the inclination angle θ in the depth direction of the storage shelf is obtained, it is obtained from the respective distances up to two points on the vertical plate 320 straddling the triangular convex portion 330. It can also be obtained from the distance to two points on the surface of the convex portion 330.

  The shelf position automatic teaching device used in the automatic drug storage for drug discovery according to the present invention is for drug discovery having a huge number of storage shelves by using a combination of a line sensor and a measuring plate having a shape unique to the present invention. This greatly speeds up the teaching work time of the automatic storage and greatly improves the measurement accuracy. The effect is enormous and the industrial applicability is extremely high.

The perspective view which shows the vertical storage frame and measurement plate of a present Example. The perspective view when the plate for a measurement of a present Example is seen from the downward direction. The perspective view when the plate for a measurement of a present Example is seen from upper direction. The perspective view which shows the structure of the shelf position automatic teaching apparatus of a present Example. The top view which looked at FIG. 4 from the arrow V direction. The side view which looked at FIG. 5 from arrow VI direction. The top view explaining the teaching operation | movement of a present Example (measurement of a X coordinate and a Y coordinate). The top view explaining the teaching operation | movement of a present Example (measurement of inclination-angle (theta)). The top view explaining the teaching operation | movement of a present Example (measurement of Z coordinate). The perspective view of the storage shelf for drug discovery equipped with the vertical storage frame of a present Example. The perspective view of the automatic storage for drug discovery which stored the storage shelf for drug discovery of a present Example. The perspective view which shows the conventional shelf position teaching apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Storage tray 120 ... Microtube 200 ... Picking robot 300 ... Measurement plate 310 ... Horizontal plate 320 (of measurement plate) ... Vertical plate 322 (of measurement plate) ... Bottom surface 330 (of measurement plate vertical plate) ... Convex part 332 (of measurement plate) ... Base 334 (of convex part of measurement plate) ... (Convex part of measurement plate) Vertical line 400 ... Line sensor 410 ... (Line sensor) Semiconductor laser 420 ... (Line sensor) Cylindrical lens 430 ... (Line sensor) Lens system 440 ... (Line sensor) ) CMOS sensor 600 ... measurement plate 610 ... central horizontal line 620 (of measurement plate) ... (of measurement plate) Center vertical line 630 ... Positioning window 700 (of measurement plate) ... Transfer hand 710 ... Center horizontal line 720 ... Center vertical line 740 ... Hand plate 800 ... Storage for drug discovery Shelf 810, 820, 830 ... Vertical storage frame 812, 822, 832 ... Storage shelf 900 ... Automatic storage for drug discovery 910 ... Storage area 930 (of automatic storage for drug discovery) ... ( Entry / exit area 935 (for automatic drug storage) Entry / exit window 940 (for automatic drug storage) Transfer area O (for automatic drug storage) Endless circulation orbit

Claims (3)

Multiple storage shelves arranged in vertical and horizontal directions for storing and managing workpieces for drug discovery research in an environment of constant temperature, humidity and freezing, and transfer of the workpieces to and from the storage shelves In a shelf position automatic teaching device used for an automatic drug storage for drug discovery having a hand and a measurement plate inserted in the lowermost stage and / or the uppermost stage of the storage shelf,
The measuring plate has a horizontal plate adapted to the width of the storage shelf and a vertical plate suspended from the front surface of the horizontal plate;
The vertical plate has a triangular convex portion at the center thereof,
It has position coordinates of a plurality of measurement points on a straight line straddling the convex part and a line sensor for measuring the distance to the measurement point,
From the distance between two boundary points between the edge of the convex part and the straight line, the height (Z coordinate) from the base of the triangular convex part to the boundary point is determined,
From each distance from the line sensor to two points on the vertical plate across the convex part on the straight line, the inclination angle (θ) in the depth direction of the storage shelf is determined,
From the position of one boundary point between the edge of the convex part and the straight line, a horizontal position (X coordinate) is obtained,
By obtaining the length (Y coordinate) of the storage shelf in the depth direction from the distance from the line sensor to the one boundary point, the position information (X coordinate, Y coordinate, Z coordinate, θ) is an automatic teaching device for shelf positions used in an automatic drug storage.   2. The triangular convex portion is a right-angled triangular shape having a base that is flush with a bottom surface of the vertical plate, and a perpendicular line that is equal to the height of the vertical plate and perpendicular to the bottom surface. Shelf position automatic teaching device used for the automatic drug storage for described medicines. The shelf position automatic teaching apparatus used for an automatic drug storage for medicines according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the line sensor is a laser displacement sensor.

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